PORTLAND, Ore. — Melvin Mark Investors last week bought the historic Alderway Building in what's shaping up to become a high-profile part of downtown Portland, though recent vacancy trends offer a note of caution.
The building at the corner of Southwest Alder Street and Southwest Broadway houses Kassab Jewelers and other tenants. It is about two-thirds leased, according to MMI, and the building consists of 46,000 square feet.
The buyer acknowledges the purchase is an against-the-grain move amid market unease downtown, where CBRE most recently pegged office vacancy at 26%. Even so, the addition of the Ritz-Carlton tower and 11W building nearby offers some promise, as long as leasing agents can fill the spaces with tenants.
"We've got one of the best retail corners downtown," MMI Managing Partner Nick Ehlen said, adding later, "We started at the beginning of this year picking around downtown and seeing if we could find something within our contrarian spirit, and Alderway showed up on the radar."
The property opened in 1911 as the Pantages Theater. Chicago architects Clausen & Clausen later undertook a renovation. Now the building at 521-539 S.W. Broadway covers four stories and a basement, plus a penthouse that acts as a fifth floor. It has 35,000 square feet of office space and 10,600 square feet of retail. While not on the National Register of Historic Places at present, MMI said it is looking at its future eligibility for the register.
Read more about the deal, and its implications for downtown, at the Portland Business Journal. https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2022/09/06/melvin-mark-investors-buys-downtown-building.html
